The link between Arogya Bharati, that promises genius babies, and the RSS that OpIndia couldn’t find

It has been reported by multiple media outlets that RSS-linked organisation Arogya Bharati has promised ‘Uttam Santati’, i.e. a perfect child under an Arogya Bharati project called “Garbh Sanskar”. Indian Express reports that the procedure for a such a perfect child according to the Garbh Sanskar program is three months of “shuddhikaran (purification)” for parents, intercourse at a time decided by planetary configurations, complete abstinence after the baby is conceived, and procedural and dietary regulations. According to Indian Express, Dr Hitesh Jani, national convener, Arogya Bharati, claimed that this program could produce tall and fair babies.

Dr Hitesh Jani also spoke to NDTV and stated that “garbh sanskar can produce genius babies”. While speaking to NDTV, he also claimed that garbh sanskar enabled “genetic engineering in vivo or inside the womb”, while modern day genetic engineering was done “in vitro” or in a petri dish. This issue was also reported by TheWire. Expectedly, there was a lot of outrage because of such ludicrous claims of producing super babies. In the meantime, OpIndia.com which is a right-wing website that works at exposing the bias in media against BJP, RSS and right-wing in general has come up with an article claiming that all the above articles about “RSS-linked org promising fair babies” were fake and invented by the media.

The author of the article Rohit Agarwal defends RSS by stating that based on his online research, he couldn’t find any link between RSS and Arogya Bharati. He also spoke to Dr. Ramesh Gautam, National General Secretary of the Arogya Bharti, who reportedly stated that his ideology might match that of RSS but Arogya Bharti as such is an autonomous organisation. While speaking to OpIndia, he also stated that there was absolutely no attempt to get ‘taller and fairer’ babies as part of the Garbh Sanskar program. It is further stated in the OpIndia article that “the ‘RSS-link’ was entirely fabricated for sure“.

Dr Ramesh Gautam, whom OpIndia spoke to, has shared this article on his Facebook timeline and can be accessed here => https://www.facebook.com/ramesh.gautam.50/posts/1378544215538523.

While Dr Ramesh Gautam currently claims that the program had nothing to do with RSS, on April 18th, he himself shared the Hindu article which starts with the sentence, “Arogya Bharati, the health and family welfare wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in the city will host a workshop on how to have a good child.” That Hindu article drew a clear link between RSS and Arogya Bharati, yet, Dr Ramesh Gautam did not seem to have an issue. The Hindu article goes on to quote the Secretary of the Kolkata chapter of Arogya Bharati, Joyshree Rakshit, who said that the initiative was aimed at “raising awareness in Bengal about the traditional wisdom of ancient Hindu sages on the ways of bearing an ideal and good child.”

Now, lets give Dr Ramesh Gautam the benefit of doubt. He may have shared the article as a piece of news and probably doesn’t endorse every word that is written in the Hindu article. However, Dr Ramesh Gautam’s own Facebook timeline is proof enough to show how Arogya Bharati is not only ‘inspired’ by RSS, but that the two organisations work very closely.

Dr Ramesh Gautam has taken part in and addressed several “Garbh Sanskar” seminars as part of Ayogya Bharati, all of which he’s written about on his Facebook timeline. He’s also written about techniques to have “genius children” leading to a “bright future generation of Bharat.”

Here are more instances in which Ramesh Gautam attended “Garbh Sanskar” programs.

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However, if Arogya Bharati has no operational connections with RSS, then why was Arogya Bharti’s Garbh Sanskar program in Jan 2015 done under the chairmanship of Rajesh Loya who is RSS’s Sanghchalak of Nagpur Mahanagar? The pamphlet that was distributed by Ramesh Gautam clearly states that this particular Arogya Bharati program was conducted under the leadership of Rajesh Loya.

Rajesh Loya (circled below) is as RSS as it gets. In fact, according to Manashakti.org who covered this Garbh Sanskar event of Arogya Bharati, Mr Rajesh Loya even spoke about Garbh Sanskar and how all couples should follow it in his speech.

If Arogya Bharati is independent of RSS, then why are Arogya Bharati programs conducted at Hedgewar Smriti Bhawan, Reshmibaug, in Nagpur which is one of the main centres of RSS in Nagpur?

If Arogya Bharat is independent of RSS, why is that National President of Arogya Bharati, Ramesh Gautam, attends the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS) meetings every year, ABPS being the RSS annual meeting of its highest decision-making body. If Arogya Bharati and RSS and truly independent, why is that Arogya Bharat workshop always follows the ABPS meetings if there is no case of co-ordination?

While senior Arogya Bharati leaders attend RSS annual events, seniors RSS leaders also attend Arogya Bharati annual events as documented on Arogya Bharati website.

Even RSS’s weekly newspaper Organiser cover’s Arogya Bharati’s activities. In fact, there’s a section called “Sangh Samarchar” which is supposed to be news about the Sangh and Arogya Bharati has been covered in that section in 2005 and 2009.

In fact, the founder member of Arogya Bharati was a RSS Pracharak Dr Upendra Shenoy.

The facts presented in this post show that Arogya Bharati has many institutional connections with RSS contrary to what OpIndia.com claims. The fact that the National President of Arogya Bharati attends each and every Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha, the fact that seniors RSS leaders attend Arogya Bharti National Executive meetings, the fact that Arogya Bharti events have been conducted under the leadership of senior RSS leaders, the fact that Arogya Bharati events have been conducted in Hedgewar Bhawan which is one of the centers of RSS in Nagpur, all this point to the fact that the two organisations infact work very closely.